


Us Against the World

by BatFics



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Birdflash - Freeform, Bullying, Coming Out, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Freshness, Good Intentions, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Invasion of Privacy, Lies, M/M, Mistakes, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Press and Tabloids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-07 14:22:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11625390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BatFics/pseuds/BatFics
Summary: Wally lies about having told his parents he's in relationship with Dick, and the media acquires a "scandalous photograph" of Gotham's favorite ward. Suffice to say, it's all downhill from here.





	1. Midnight

_“I told you Walls, I don’t care how long you wait to tell them. So it’s been three months. We told everyone else. Bruce, The Team… so it’s no big—”_

_“I told them.”_

_“What, no, really? When? How did they take it?”_

_“Last night. They were super chill about it. Actually, by the looks on their faces, I’m pretty sure they already knew. Don’t ask how. I think parents come with mystical superpowers...”_

_“Dude, that’s amazing. I’m really glad they know. And I’m proud you; I know how scared you were.”_

_“...Right.”_

_“You okay?”_

_“Totally.”_

_“Good. ...I love you Wally.”_

_“I love you too, Dick.”_

• • •

Wally cringed, replaying the conversation in his mind and burying his head in his pillow. Why he had told that stupid lie was beyond him. Dick had said it so many times—he didn’t mind that Wally hadn’t told his parents about them.

Of course, Wally just had to go feel _bad_ about it and not believe him. Dick had told freaking _Batman_ about their relationship a mere _day_ after it started. Surely that had to have been more frightening than anything Wally might experience when he finally came out.

 

He knew he shouldn’t have lied, but he just couldn’t bear the possibility of Dick thinking, or even wondering if, Wally was ashamed of him. It had felt so important to Wally when Dick told his family—Bruce, Alfred… hell, even his best friend from school, Barbara—about them, and he had wanted to give Dick the same feeling of happiness—the same _reassurance—_ that had been given to him. But pretending to come out when he hadn’t? That was a recipe for disaster, and he knew it.

A part of him wanted to call Dick right now and tell him the truth, but he didn’t think he could face admitting it. Also, it was 12:00 at night and that meant it was even later in Gotham, so he couldn’t call even if he wanted to. Of course, that had never stopped him before (he sucked with time zones) but still.

 

Wally sighed before rolling over, pulling his covers tighter around him and staring at the moonlight, which lit the sky beyond his window.

There was only one thing he could do. First thing tomorrow, he had to tell his parents about Dick. After that, his lie would become truth and everything would be fixed.

And really, how hard could the conversation be?

_'Hey Mom, Hey Dad! Remember when I was six and you told me that gay people go to hell? That doesn’t apply for bi and pan, right? Because my boyfriend and I are very happy together. Oh, yeah, did I mention I have a boyfriend?'_

Wally groaned loudly before closing his eyes.

Tomorrow was going to be one hell of a day.


	2. Truth and Pancakes

Wally awoke to the sound of someone shouting. It was hushed shouting, as if the person responsible were making a lousy attempt at not being overheard.

Wally sat up in bed, yawning and glancing over at the digital clock, which rested on his side table. _9:00am_.

For a minute, he wondered why he hadn’t been woken up for school, but then he remembered that it was Saturday. He grinned, thinking of all the things he would do that day.

His mom would be making pancakes (yum) and after breakfast he could zoom over to Central City to hang with Uncle Barry and Aunt I for the afternoon. Then, later, he had a date with— ...oh. Right. He may have forgotten about one tiny item on his to-do list. Although, judging by the argument still drifting upstairs, he doubted this was the best time to execute his plan.

 

He jumped out of bed and quickly dressed, before zooming into the bathroom to brush his teeth. The voices downstairs died down, obviously sensing the usage of superspeed nearby.

 

When he finally entered the kitchen, his dad was sitting at the table, and his mom was setting down a platter of steaming hot pancakes. Wally smiled and sat down before exchanging ‘good-morning’s with his family. His parents were smiling, he noted. As he ate, he kept a watchful eye on them, and noticed with interest that they seemed to have made up. It was unusual for that to happen so quickly after a fight, but it wasn’t unheard of. After all, sometimes all you needed were the right words. Speaking of which...

 

“Uh, there’s… there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you guys, ” started Wally, nervously poking at one of his pancakes with a fork.

“Nothing bad, I hope,” laughed his father, taking a bite of his breakfast.

“Well, no. I mean, it’s complicated.” Wally bit his lip. This was already a disaster. Even so, he pushed through, starting over.

“It’s not bad. I just… there’s something you guys should know about.”

He sighed, bracing himself, as his parent looked at him in a mix of expectancy and concern.

“For the past three months, I’ve been… seeing someone. And we’re really serious, and I like them. A lot.” He waited.

His father smiled, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t suppose you’re going to introduce us to this girl anytime soon?”

“...no.”

The smile disappeared.

“What I mean is, you already know them!” said Wally, hurriedly.

He father relaxed, leaning back in his chair.

“So who is she?” asked his mom, kindly.

Wally was silent for a moment, wondering how to respond. He green eyes scanned his parents faces carefully as he spoke.

“Well, you know Dick?”

His dad chuckled. “Your best friend? I should think so. He’s over here practically every week. What does he have to do with any of this?”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

His mother furrowed her eyebrows, confused. “I thought you said—”

“I don’t have a _girl_ friend,” Wally repeated, stressing the word _girl_.

There was a moment’s silence before his dad spoke, voice dangerously quiet. “Wallace, what are you saying?”

“...I’m going out with Dick,” said Wally, his voice weak. “He’s my boyfriend. A-and I love him.”

 

Wally had always been dubious about the phrase ‘the silence was deafening.’ The sentence was a direct contradiction of itself. It made no sense. Until now, that is. It was as if someone had pressed a mute button on entire the room, and all he could hear was his own breathing, which was ragged and fast.

 

In the end, it was him who spoke first. “You’re okay with that, right?” He sounded far more confident than he felt.

“Are you sure you… love him?” his mom asked, the distress evident in her voice. “What I mean to say is, this is probably just a phase. You’ll grow out of it, you’ll see. It’ll all work out. Isn’t that right Rudy?”

“It already _has_ worked out,” Wally interjected, anger overriding the fear that had been lingering inside of him. “And of course I’m sure! It’s been three months!”

“Wally—”

“No!” Wally stood up, throwing his hands into the air. “I was sure before we even made it official! I was _sure_ every single time he looked at me. Every time I made him laugh. Lord knows I was sure the first time he kissed me!”

 

_Shit._

 

_Sometimes he regretted having a mouth that moved faster than his brain._

 

He gulped, devoting every ounce of brainpower to _not running away._

“...Are you seeing him anytime soon?” asked his dad, firmly. Wally was too baffled at the fact that he wasn’t being screamed at to realize he was walking straight into a trap.

“Yeah... Today.”

“Good. When you see him, you tell him it’s over. I’ll not have you throwing your life away over some perverted crush.”

“W-what? How can you even say— No! You can’t make me turn my back on him!”

“The hell I can’t. You’re lucky I’m not turning my back on _you!_ ” yelled Rudy, standing from the table to look his son in the eyes.

“How do you think _I_ feel, finding out my own child is a…” he trailed off. “Just sit down and finish your breakfast. I’m going for a walk.”

And with that, his father exited the room, leaving Wally to fall limply into his chair, trying to fight off the tears that had begun forming in his eyes.


	3. Shaken Trust

Guilt was a lousy feeling. It was full of regret and fear and worry, and right now it was ruining a perfectly good make out session.

Dick and Wally were sat at the foot of Dick’s bed, beside two pairs of forgotten game controllers. When Dick had abandoned his remote in favor of placing gentle kisses on Wally’s cheek, Wally hadn’t protested. Instead he’d turned towards him, weaved a hand into his hair and pulled him close. To be truthful, it had been a welcome distraction. After all, he couldn’t talk if they were kissing, which meant he couldn’t bring up the events that had transpired that morning.

Now, however, he felt like each kiss was another lie. _Huh? No! My dad totally didn’t tell me to break up with you, and I’m definitely not having an internal meltdown. Thanks for asking!_

 

Wally pulled back, catching his breath and placing a hand on Dick’s chest to maintain the distance.

“Everything okay?”

Wally leaned his head against the bed, looking into Dick’s bright, blue eyes.

“No. It’s not.”

Dick sat up, hand shooting out to rest on Wally’s shoulder. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“You know yesterday, when I said I told my parents about us?”

A smile crossed Dick’s face at the memory, and he brushed a tousled strand of hair from his face. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.”

“Yeah, me neither. The thing is… That wasn’t completely true. And by ‘wasn’t completely’ I mean wasn’t at all. ...I lied.”

There was a long pause.

 

When Dick spoke, his voice shook, as if it were made of glass and Wally had just crushed it with a sledgehammer. “What?”

“I am so, so sorry. I just felt so bad that you told Bruce ages ago, and I wanted to do the same for you. I wanted you to feel safe and… and _loved_ , like I did. But I was wasn’t ready to say anything, so I just…” he rested his face in his hands. “And now all I’ve done is hurt you.”

When there was no reply, Wally looked up again, to find Dick staring at him with the most wounded expression he had ever seen. When he tried to speak, no words came out.

“I’m so sorry,” Wally said again.

“Every time you stressed about it, I told you—I said it didn’t matter to me when you—”

“I know. I’m sorry…”

“God, Walls, stop saying that!” Dick’s voice had fully returned to him, and he now looked more frustrated than anything else.

“I’m sorr—er—I apologize. I’ll stop.”

Dick let out laugh that sounded more like sob. It was probably a combination of both.

“I can’t believe you did this. I know you had good intentions, but how the hell could you think that was a good idea? A-and how could look me in the face and lie about something so… so big! And not even care!”

“Hey, I felt terrible about it after!” Wally snapped.

“Oh, well that just makes everything so much better!” spat Dick, standing up.

Wally stood, too. “I never said it made everything better! And anyway, I wasn’t finished.”

“Then by all means, go on!”

“I felt _terrible_ about it after, so this morning decided to do what I said I did.”

Dick shook his head, lowering his voice to a normal volume. “And I’m supposed to believe you?”

“Why would I lie, fess up, and then lie again? I would be way easier to just lie and be done with it.”

“Yeah, well maybe you got tired of fighting and figured another lie would make it end.”

“You know I wouldn’t do that.”

“Honestly, right now, I’m not sure what you’d do,” Dick muttered, sitting down on the edge of his bed and not bothering to look up when Wally sat beside him.

“...am I allowed to say sorry again?”

“Fine.”

“I’m sorry. I messed up, and I know it, and I’m sorry, and yeah, I hate that we’re fighting right now becauseIloveyouandI’msorry.”

Dick half-smiled, kicking at the rug with his foot. “That was super repetitive.”

 

After a second, Dick glanced over at Wally.

“Did it go as smoothly as the made up time? Telling your parents?”

“Not even close.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Who’s being repetitive now?”

Dick sighed, resting his head on Wally’s shoulder. “What did they say?”

“Well, my mom said it was just a phase, and that I’d outgrow it eventually.”

“She seriously said that?!” Dick tiled his head up to stare at Wally in horror.

“That wasn’t the worst of it. My dad made it pretty clear that he think’s I’m a total disappointment. And... he managed to say the worst thing possible.”

“...which was?”

Wally took a deep breath. “He told me to… He said I have to break up with you.”


	4. Schemes

“That’s crazy!” Dick yelled.

“Yeah, I know.”

“He can’t do that, right? He can’t just tell you to break up with me. It doesn’t work that way!”

To be honest, Dick wasn’t sure _how_ it worked. He had never come across a situation like this before.

“He’s my _dad,_ Dick. I’m pretty sure he can tell me to do anything.”

“Wait, you’re not actually going to listen to him, are you?” Dick asked, panicking. He couldn’t lose Wally. And definitely not like this.

“Of course not. But I don’t know what I _should_ do, either.”

“Maybe Bruce could try talking to him?”

“Dick.”

“Yeah, okay. Bad idea. ...Maybe I could come over for dinner and be super nice and they could see how great we are together and—”

“That’s an even worse idea.”

“Then lie.”

A look of disbelief passed over Wally's face. “What? Isn’t lying what got me into this mess in the first place?”

Dick ignored the question. “Tell your dad that we broke up. He won’t have any reason to doubt you.”

“Think about what you’re saying. You’ll never be able to come visit me. Like, ever again.”

“We’ve been best friends for years. Surely your parents won’t keep us from going back to that. And the first few times I come around again, I can try to seem all sad and awkward.”

“You’re really serious about this, aren’t you,” said Wally, dubiously.

“Hey, if you have a better idea, I’d love to hear it.”

“Okay, fine. I don't have a better idea. But there's still another _flaw_ in you plan. Everyone else will still know we’re together. Someone’s gonna spill the beans eventually.”

“Then we’ll pretend to break up to them, too.”

“But then we can’t be together here _or_ at the cave! Also, I’m pretty sure _Batman_ ’s not going to fall for it, anyway.”

Dick flopped backwards onto his bed, looking at the ceiling hopelessly. “Okay, just let me think… How about we lie to your parents, and tell Batman and the Team not to talk. The Team won’t mind—and it’s not like they ever see your parents anyway, so it won’t be very hard. Bruce will be trickier to convince, but I’m, like, sixty two percent certain we can get through to him.”

“Wow. Great odds.”

“He’s downstairs right now. Care to test our luck?”

Wally shook his head, defeated. “After you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so this chapter was pretty much nothing but dialogue. Oops.


	5. The Thirty Eight Percent

“No.”

  
Bruce sat in a large armchair, facing Dick and Wally, who were on the couch opposite him, shattered expressions on their faces.

  
“Bruce, please,” begged Dick. “You have to help us. Surely you can’t be okay with Wally’s dad forcing us to break up!”  
Bruce leaned back, studying his son. “I never said I was okay with it. But despite my personal feelings, I can’t promise to lie to Wally’s parents for you. I also can’t support the two of you lying to them.”

Wally had thought it was impossible for his heart to sink any further than it had that morning, but he was wrong. It was all hopeless. He was going to have to break up with Dick, and lose his best friend—and the boy he loved—just like that. All because he didn’t keep their relationship a secret.  
Bruce seemed to read his mind, and spoke up again.  
“Just because you don’t lie doesn’t mean you have to break up.”  
“Oh yeah?” asked Dick, sounding about as hopeless as Wally felt.  
“Wally told his parents this morning. They may just need time.”  
“You mean I have to wait for my dad to change his mind?” asked Wally, incredulously. “Because trust me—that’s not gonna happen.”  
“You can’t know that for sure,” said Bruce. “And if your father doesn’t change his mind, then you’ll have to be honest with him and stand up for yourself. You’ll just have to tell him that despite his wishes, you’re not going to break up with Dick. Unless, of course, you both decide it would simpler—”  
“No!” Wally snapped. “We’re staying together.”  
“Alright, then.” There was a long pause.

“Might I ask if the two came up with any alternative plans before you came to me?”  
Dick looked at Wally, hesitantly. “I suggested going over to his house so his parents could get used to us being a thing.”  
Bruce nodded, slowly. “Then after you give it some time, that’s what you should do.”  
“But, that’s a bad idea!” Dick exclaimed. “We both agreed it was!”  
“You’ll have to face his parents, eventually. Unless, of course, you’re planning to avoid them for the rest of your life.”  
Wally banged his head into the back of the couch. “This is so complicated.”  
Bruce stood, looking at the boys sympathetically. “I’m sorry. I truly am. But as much as I regret saying it, whether or not you two can make it work will have to depend on what you’re willing to face together.”  
Wally felt Dick’s hand tighten around his own, as his boyfriend spoke. “Anything. We’ll face anything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter was super short! But don't worry, there should be more posted very soon. :)


	6. Conversations

Wally lay on his bed, flipping through a comic book and eating from a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

He was doing his best to ignore the events of the day before, and to his surprise, he was actually succeeding. After coming home from Dick’s house, his own home had been empty (his parents had been invited to some boring get together at a neighbor’s house down the road) and he had purposefully gone to sleep before they got back.

This morning, he had only left his bedroom to get food, which he had gotten at superspeed so that no one could talk to him. Avoiding everyone probably wasn’t the best way to fix things, but it was certainly a lot less stressful. He could worry about talking to his family later.

 

Suddenly, there was a knock on his door and Wally looked up just in time to see his mother opening it. She stepped inside, shutting it gently behind her.

_So much for waiting until later_ , thought Wally, smiling weakly at his mom and sitting up.

 

“Hey there. I haven’t seen you all day.”

“Yeah. I’ve been busy. Reading and stuff.”

His mom sighed and came over to him, sitting beside him on the bed.

“Are you okay? After everything that happened yesterday, I’ve been so worried—”

“I’m fine. It’s fine.”

“You broke up with Dick and you’re fine?”

Wally ran a hand through his hair, nervously. “About that… I didn’t exactly… break up with him.”

His mother’s eyes widened. “What? Wally, you know your father said—”  
“Look, I just thought I would give it a little more time, you know? He might… come around.”

“Wally,” said his mom, placing a hand on his back, “even if you can convince your dad to change his mind… are you sure staying with Dick is the best idea? I know you care for him—I don’t doubt that—but your feelings may not be what you think they are. What I’m trying to say is—”

“You think I’m confused? Or that my feeling will wear off? Because I’m not and they won’t. And maybe you’re just afraid because you know that already.”

“Yes, I am afraid! And I have a right to be. I never thought I would have to deal with anything like this from you. I love you, and you’re my son, and for the first time in your life I don’t know what to do. When you were little I always knew how to help you. Goodness, even when you got _superspeed_ I knew what to do. But right now I have no clue what I’m doing so tell me, Wally. Tell me what to do, because I’m lost.”

Wally spoke in a whisper, startled by the desperation in his mother’s voice.

“You could try being supportive.”

There was a long silence, before his mother finally responded, her voice even quieter than his.

“Alright.”

Wally couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He fought the urge to get his hopes up, and instead asked, “...what?”

“You have my support. And perhaps, over time, if you and Dick seem... acceptable together, you’ll gain my approval, as well. And I hope that happens. I really do.”

Well, it wasn’t the most _supportive_ sounding vote of support, but hey.

Wally smiled, looking at his toes. “Thanks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another really short chapter. I'm just gonna assume that each chapter will be this tiny, from now on... (hopefully not, though.) Also the pacing in this story is kinda wonky, so sorry about that!


End file.
